A damning independent report into the UK's handling to the coronavirus crisis has concluded that the response were "insufficient and delayed," declaring how implementing restrictions just one week earlier might have prevented in excess of 23,000 fatalities.
Main Conclusions of the Inquiry
Documented across more than seven hundred fifty pages across two volumes, the findings paint an unmistakable story showing delay, failure to act and a seeming inability to understand from mistakes.
The account about the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 has been described as particularly harsh, labeling February as "a wasted month."
Official Shortcomings Highlighted
- It raises questions about the reasons why Boris Johnson failed to convene one meeting of the Cobra crisis committee in that period.
- Measures to Covid largely paused throughout the half-term holiday week.
- During the second week of March, the circumstances was "almost calamitous," due to inadequate strategy, a lack of testing and consequently little understanding of the degree to which the virus was spreading.
Possible Outcome
Even though acknowledging the fact that the move to impose restrictions was historic and exceptionally hard, taking further steps to curb the spread of coronavirus earlier might have resulted in a lockdown could have been prevented, or at least proved of shorter duration.
When a lockdown was inevitable, the inquiry authors noted, had it been introduced on 16 March, projections indicated that would have lowered the number of lives lost in England in the first wave of the virus by nearly 50%, equating to twenty-three thousand deaths prevented.
The failure to understand the magnitude of the threat, and the urgency for measures it demanded, meant the fact that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too delayed and restrictions had become necessary.
Ongoing Failures
The report further noted that many of the same mistakes – reacting with delay and downplaying the pace together with effect of the pandemic's progression – occurred again subsequently in 2020, when controls were eased and subsequently delayed restored because of contagious mutations.
It calls such repetition "inexcusable," adding that the government were unable to absorb experience over repeated phases.
Total Impact
The United Kingdom suffered one of the worst coronavirus crises in Europe, recording about 240,000 Covid-related lives lost.
The inquiry represents the second from the ongoing investigation into each part of the response as well as management of the pandemic, that was launched two years ago and is expected to proceed through 2027.
